


not all heroes wear capes (but mine does)

by incendio (alegro)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Civilian Lee Jeno, M/M, Superhero Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Superhero Na Jaemin, bongshik - Freeform, happy birthday jaemin!!, minor character injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-20 20:37:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20233999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alegro/pseuds/incendio
Summary: Na Jaemin knew he wasn't your typical superhero. He interrupted his day job for his superhero job and then interrupted that job to save a stranger's cat. But, it's okay, the stranger is cute anyway.





	not all heroes wear capes (but mine does)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [haesuns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/haesuns/gifts).

> this is for you sol! I'm sorry if I strayed a little from your original prompt, I couldn't help myself 🙈 but I hope you can enjoy it anyway! love you 💖💖

Na Jaemin knew he wasn’t your typical superhero. 

For one, he didn’t have any powers. Despite that, his main reason to become a hero had been pretty simple. No sudden realization that he could use his (non-existent) powers for the greater good, or a great need for justice after some traumatic event like the death of a loved one. He had just wanted to protect Donghyuk.

The aforementioned Donghyuk, Jaemin’s best friend, did have powers. Ever since Jaemin could remember, Donghyuk could fly. As children, he only had the ability to float barely an inch above the ground, but as they grew so did Donghyuk’s powers until one day Jaemin was following him up to the roof, where Donghyuk had promptly ran to the edge and jumped off. 

Jaemin had never been more scared. He ran over to the edge, screaming, and leaned into the empty space, only to come face to face with Donghyuk. He was floating – no, _flying_ – just below the ledge, smiling up at Jaemin like a fool. 

Jaemin’s immediate reaction was to hit Donghyuk over the head as hard as he could. After his heart rate had gone back to normal, he couldn’t help but gush about Donghyuk’s powers with him. It had been both their dreams to be superheroes since they were children. That day, with Donghyuk finally able to harness his power enough to pull such a stunt, it felt closer than ever. Licking the liquid that had dripped from their ice cream cones onto their fingers an hour later, they promised they would become heroes together. 

The problem was that, for Jaemin, that dream really wasn’t a possibility. For Donghyuk, it was as simple as going through the training as soon as he was of age and signing off his superhero name. For Jaemin, who didn’t have powers of any kind, it was more like a childhood dream. 

However, it was a promise that Donghyuk had never let him let go. 

As soon as he turned 18, he signed up for the required training. Three months of grueling work paid off the moment he was told he was ready to protect Seoul. However, before he could become Haechan, Donghyuk insisted he needed a sidekick, and said sidekick must be Jaemin. It wasn’t an idea Seoul’s Superhero Office was very fond of – most sidekicks had at least lower-scale powers like healing or communicating with animals – but in order to avoid any further trouble (and paperwork), they decided to let Donghyuk get away with it. 

Three months of vicious training later and Jaemin was signing the papers to become Pristine. His job really wasn’t all that, he just made sure no civilians were in the line of fire, cleared the path for Donghyuk to be able to fight properly, and made sure the latter didn’t make too much mess. He was basically a super-babysitter, but Jaemin had enough of a sense of self-preservation to never voice that thought out loud. 

He hadn't had to butt into Donghyuk’s business just yet, which Jaemin was immensely grateful for. It wasn’t because he was afraid of the action, if anything he kind of wanted his job to be a little bit more exciting, but because that meant that Donghyuk was safe, and that was always his main concern when his best friend was on the field. They had been friends ever since Jaemin could remember, and he couldn’t bear to think he might have to learn how to live a life without him. However, he could be sure that wasn’t the case with his own two eyes rather than sitting in front of the TV screen with his heart in his throat every time news of a villain attacking Seoul came out. 

It was one of the many positive aspects of his job. Apart from that and the super cool suit – a spandex bodysuit with golden accents, mirror to Donghyuk’s yellow one, complimented by a light, flowy cape and a gun and shield should things go south – he had also garnered his considerable amount of fans and the extra pay was enough for him to live an extremely comfortable life. Besides, the villains were nice enough, they always waited until after-school hours to cause any trouble, so he didn’t normally have to adjust his teaching hours.

Sadly, that couldn’t always be the case, though it was unusual for one of these villains to want to cause more chaos than usual so early in the morning. And it had to be right in the middle of Jaemin’s class’s field trip. 

It was an idea that Jaemin had been pitching to the school for ages, and when he finally had been able to convince them it would be good for the children to go out and get some air, Jaemin excitedly gathered all his kids, with the help of his teaching assistant Jisung, and made them walk all the way to the park a few blocks away from the school building. It was a great opportunity for the thirty-odd eleven-year-olds to run around and observe bugs more closely than they ever could in the concrete jungle that the school board dared call a patio. 

Apart from Donghyun tripping Yewon and making her scrape her knees, the outing had been sailing totally smoothly until Jaemin saw plumes of smoke rising from the faraway buildings. As calmly as possible, he asked for Jisung to take the children back to school while he picked up all their things. He insisted he would meet them there later and, albeit hesitantly, Jisung agreed.

As soon as Jisung and the children were out of sight, Jaemin ran for the nearest tree, taking out his spandex suit. He changed quickly, skills honed from years of practice, and threw his bag next to the other kids’ before making a mad dash for the scene of the fires.

He got there in record time, considering the distance. Panting, Jaemin jogged along as Donghyuk and the villain – a barely distinguishable, dark figure in the sky – advanced, tracking them from land and making sure the streets were mostly empty. He was so engrossed in Donghyuk’s chase game that he didn’t notice the man standing on the sidewalk until he bumped into him. 

He was slightly taller than Jaemin, broad-shouldered and dark-haired. The first coherent thought Jaemin could form is that it was a pity he was meeting him while fully suited. However, he came out of his stupor quick enough as he heard an explosion go off just a few feet from them. 

“What are you doing out here?” he asked urgently, craning his neck to try to get a better view of Donghyuk. “Don’t you hear the explosions going off? You should be in your own home.”

The man had the decency to look sheepish as he answered. “Um, well, yeah, but,” he coughed, “my cat.”

Jaemin raised an eyebrow. “Your cat?”

The man smiled, eyes turning into crescents as he flashed pearly whites, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Jaemin could literally feel the ground shaking from the force of the explosions, he would have totally melted into a puddle. 

“Yeah, my cat. He got stuck in a tree, and I didn’t want to leave him alone out here while that whole… fight thing was going on.”

Jaemin nearly scoffed. “_Fight thing?_ Your life could be in danger!”

The man suddenly looked indignated. “Well, yeah. So could Bongshik’s! So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go back to taking care of him.”

Sending a wary glance towards Donghyuk, who was now right in his line of sight, no doubt engaging in his usual banter to distract the villain, Jaemin sighed. “I’ll get him down, just wait a second.”

Jaemin walked over to the tree and felt it gently for a foothold. Once he was satisfied with the crease he found, he pulled himself up. It wasn’t a tall tree by any means and soon he was eye level with the man’s cat – Bongshik, he had called him. With a pang, Jaemin realized he knew the cat’s name but not the man’s. 

Gently – or at least he thought he was being gentle – Jaemin reached over to grab Bongshik by the underbelly so he could carry him down. At that moment, a loud explosion went off, way closer than Jaemin had thought Donghyuk was mere moments ago. Sacred, the cat lunged from the tree, smacking against Jaemin’s extended arm. Instinctively, Jaemin tried to grab him, accidentally pulling at his paw. 

Bongshilk landed on the ground with a crunch. Jaemin’s heart stopped in his chest. 

The man was already crouching next to his cat by the time Jaemin jumped off the tree, inspecting his leg. 

Jaemin’s hero persona instantly dropped. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, is your cat okay? I didn’t think it would jump off, I’m – ”

“He’s okay,” the man cut him off with a small smile. _How could he be smiling when Jaemin had just injured his cat?_ “I think it’s just a broken leg, I can take him to the vet.”

“I’ll take you,” Jaemin said immediately, and quite impulsively, taking the cat in his arms as he stood up. Judging by the lack of explosions and the sound of police sirens, he was sure that Donghyuk had the situation under control. “I know a really good vet down here.”

"Fine," the man said, sticking his hand out for Jaemin to shake. "I'm Jeno. Nice to meet you, Pristine."

_God_, Jaemin thought, taking Jeno's hand in his own. He had a surprisingly strong grip. _If he keeps that up I'm seriously going to have a heart attack._

Later, after he had taken Bongshik to the vet’s with Jeno, gone back to the park to gather the children’s bags, and dispatched them all to their parents safe and sound, he got a call from Donghyuk. 

“Bro,” he sounded both angry and worried. “Where were you today? You didn’t even come out after I had already beat up the bad guy! I have so much shit to talk about him.”

Jaemin giggled. “It’s a long story, Hyukkie. Tell me about the bad guy first and then I need you to ask the cute guy from the Superhero Office to help you get a number, I am in love.”


End file.
